Should I offer COBRA continuation to a seasonal employee who leaves? (Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms)

The short answer

COBRA generally only applies to employees who were actually enrolled in your group plan, so a seasonal hire who never enrolled typically isn't eligible.

Setting up coverage correctly

Firms with seasonal staffing spikes should build eligibility waiting periods and hours-tracking into their tax-season hiring process from the start.

How Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms owners typically approach this

Because turnover tends to be lower here, firms often invest more in richer group coverage as a long-term retention tool rather than defaulting to bare-minimum plans.

What tends to change the math

Group premiums for accounting firms are generally in line with other stable, office-based small businesses, with tax-season seasonal hires being the main variable. Most firms stay under the 50-employee ACA mandate threshold, but seasonal tax-season hiring is worth tracking if a firm is close to that line.

Common mistakes to avoid

Owners of a accounting or bookkeeping firm most often go wrong by assuming last year's staffing and coverage decisions still apply without checking, by not distinguishing clearly between true employees and contractors when counting toward the ACA mandate, or by comparing only one carrier's quote instead of several. Reassessing your specific numbers each year, rather than renewing on autopilot, is usually the single biggest improvement available.

Before you talk to an agent

• Know your current employee count, split between full-time and part-time, and whether any are contractors rather than employees.
• Have a rough sense of what the business can contribute toward premiums each month, if anything.
• List your busiest hiring season, if any, since seasonal swings can change your ACA mandate status year to year.
• Bring specific questions rather than starting from scratch — this guide is a starting point, not a substitute for your own numbers.

Getting an actual quote

Everything above is general guidance for a typical accounting or bookkeeping firm in Texas, not a substitute for a real quote based on your specific headcount, ages, and budget. A licensed Texas agent can run group and Marketplace numbers side by side at no cost, which is the fastest way to know what actually applies to your business rather than the industry in general.

How this fits into your broader tax picture

Health insurance decisions for a accounting or bookkeeping firm rarely stand alone — how premiums are deducted depends on whether you're a sole proprietor, partnership, S-corp, or C-corp, and the right structure can change your real after-tax cost significantly. See our small business tax write-off hub for the full breakdown by entity type.

What changes as you grow

Coverage decisions that make sense for a accounting or bookkeeping firm with two or three employees often stop making sense once you're approaching 15 or 20, and the calculus shifts again as you near the ACA's 50-employee mandate threshold. Revisiting your coverage strategy at each stage, rather than sticking with your first decision indefinitely, tends to save money as the business scales.

One more thing worth checking

Whatever you decide for a accounting or bookkeeping firm, confirm your choice actually holds up against a real quote before committing. General guidance like this is useful for narrowing down the right question to ask, but final numbers depend on your specific location, staff ages, and current-year carrier pricing, none of which a general guide can capture precisely.

See the full Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms guide

This page focuses on one specific question. For the complete picture — typical coverage patterns, cost drivers, benefits beyond medical, and market notes by city — see our full Accounting & Bookkeeping Firms health insurance guide.